Ben has discovered breathtaking life forms at the bottom of the sea,
organisms he calls Arcs. Their extreme energy efficiency defies imagination,
comparable to a race of humans that could survive one year on a slice
of pizza. Ben believes that some Arcs live, and continue to reproduce,
for millions of years. The implications of Arc biology are mind-blowing.
Their undersea byproducts could solve the energy crisis as we know it
today for the next 2,000 years. They could also spur a cataclysm, causing
mass extinctions and sending humans the way of the dinosaurs.

Most shocking
of all for readers of The Black Silent, Arcs are real, and
these incredible ideas are the tentative but factual conclusions of
knowledgeable scientists in numerous articles printed in respected scientific
journals.

As fact collides
with fiction, Sam and Haley’s frantic search for Ben leads them
to grapple with these discoveries and those who would own them. Arc-based
technology could end life on earth as we know it or make it unthinkably
better.

The result?
A human dream…or nightmare….and everything in between.

* * *

I would like
to thank the following scientists for providing journal articles and
personal explanations of the real science that informed and inspired
the fiction: